Black Ops
The Black Ops, sometimes hyphenated to Black-Ops,Half-Life Opposing Force: Prima's Official Strategy Guide or referred to as Black Operations,Half-Life: Opposing Force are a commando group briefly seen twice in Half-Life and later expanded upon and featured in Half-Life: Opposing Force. Working independently of the HECU, they invade the Black Mesa Research Facility to conceal any evidence of the Resonance Cascade, killing all living things inside the base, whether they be Black Mesa employees, HECU soldiers, or Xen lifeforms, and eventually destroying Black Mesa itself altogether through use of a nuclear weapon. They are divided into two groups: the Female and Male Black Ops, also known as Female and Male Assassins. Appearances ''Half-Life The Black Ops first appear in ''Half-Life during the chapter Apprehension, and later make one more appearance during the chapter Lambda Core. Only Female Black Ops are seen by Gordon Freeman in the game. Female Black Ops are strikingly nimble and agile, able to sprint faster than any other enemy and can jump to extreme heights. They wear a black jump suit and use night vision goggles that include a headset with microphone, although none are ever heard speaking. They are armed with silenced Glock 17 and grenades. At close range, they use an array of kicks to fight the player. When playing under the hardest difficulty level, female Black Ops have also a Cloaking Device which they use to become invisible during combat, only revealing themselves when moving. The distinction between the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit and the Black Ops was not made at first in the original Half-Life. Although the two groups never encountered one another in the game, female assassins were coded to fight on the same side as the Marines. Many players assumed this meant they were working with the military since assassins had no backstory, and as such, many fan-made maps included them fighting alongside each other. It was not until the release of Opposing Force that more insight regarding the Black Ops was revealed. ''Half-Life: Opposing Force Black Ops are featured much more prominently in ''Opposing Force. The reason for their presence at Black Mesa is also explained, something that was never made clear in the original game. Opposing Force explains that, after the initial failure of the HECU's clean-up operation, the Black Ops are sent to cover up the whole incident by destroying the entire facility. To do this, they intend to set off a thermonuclear device within the complex. Adrian Shephard locates the bomb the Black Ops deliver in a parking garage and is able to disarm it, but shortly thereafter it is seen being reactivated by the G-Man. The flash of a nuclear explosion is later witnessed in the epilogue, indicating the successful detonation of this bomb. During gameplay, Black Ops are shown to have utter contempt for the HECU soldiers, considering them incompetent and inept. One assassin angrily remarks to another, "Why do we always have to clean up a mess the grunts can't handle?". The Black Ops are openly hostile towards Marines, killing any who have not yet escaped as part of their mission. While the HECU are aware that the Black Ops group exists, they are utterly confused by their arrival and wonder if they are there to assist. However, the Black Ops soon start killing all of the non-Black Ops personnel they can find. HECU radio traffic shows that the Marines are at first totally taken by surprise, much like how the HECU initially overwhelms the Black Mesa personnel. Further evidence of their viciousness can be seen after discovering a Marine engineer who, after being brutally beaten and interrogated, is simply left for dead, trapped in a garage.Half-Life Opposing Force: Prima's Official Strategy Guide Along with the female Black Ops, Opposing Force introduced the group's male variant. Male Black Ops wear black combat gear and ski masks that only expose their eyes. Some are seen wearing night vision goggles. Although not visible, they apparently have a communicator in their ear which they are seen listening to whenever they eliminate a target. They are equipped with the same SMG with grenade attachment that the HECU use, but some male Black Ops have a M40A1 Sniper Rifle. They utilize equipment and vehicles, such as the M35 Cargo Truck, the AH-64 Apache, and the V-22 Osprey similar to the HECU, but black in color. Black Ops soldiers can run much faster than the Marines, and up close, they use martial arts kicks and punches as melee attacks. They also have a little more health. Also, unlike their Marine counterparts, Black Ops operate in total silence when in combat, refusing to even yell in pain when injured. ''Half-Life: Decay In ''Decay, the Black Ops assassins are only featured in the bonus level. In it they battle against the players' two Vortigaunt characters, R-4913 and X-8973. Additionally, they are only battled in an area that resembles the garage where they place the nuclear weapon that eventually destroys Black Mesa. Behind the scenes *The female Black Ops were originally to be armed with crossbows. The quivers used to hold the crossbow bolts are still featured in the model, attached to the belt. *Early concept art for Quiver features special CIA units, one of which is a female. The original Black Ops likely stem from it.Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar *The Half-Life 2 successor from the female Black Op is the cut Combine Assassin.Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar''Playable [[Half-Life 2 Beta|''Half-Life 2 Beta]] *Originally, the CIA was to send four types of units to Black Mesa.Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar These include the two Black Ops classes kept for the Half-Life series: the original female assassin, dubbed "Light Attack / CIA Soldier", which the final product kept much of the classes ability with a new clothing, and the original male assassin, dubbed "Special Weapons / CIA Assassin", cut from Half-Life and later reused in Opposing Force, without most of his abilities such as to combat the player in water and throwing knives. The two classes that remained cut were the "Special Attack / CIA Psionic Soldier", which was to use an unidentified "mind gun" linked to his oversized brain and possess psionic abilities similar to the Kingpin and a high level of intelligence, and the "Special Unit, aka The Butcher / CIA Soldier", who was to have powerful dual chainsaws apparently extending his arms. Trivia *The highly exaggerated bounce of the female Black Ops breasts when she walked held to much amusement by fans. This was removed in Opposing Force and in the PlayStation 2 console port of the original game.It can be seen in a cleared way in the model viewer. *The Male Assassin model was later reused, though as a modified version, for the Urban in Counter-Strike. *The promotional images of the female Black Ops bears a striking resemblance to the alien bounty hunter Zam from Star Wars Episode II. *In some instances, if a female Black Op is killed in the back, she will suddenly pull her legs together and lie dead on her side. As this happens, her night-vision goggles flip up, revealing green or blue eyes. Gallery File:Cia female soldier.jpg|Concept art for the CIA Female Soldier. File:Cia assassin.jpg|Concept art for the CIA Assassin. File:Cia butcher.jpg|Concept art for the CIA Butcher. File:Cia brainboy.jpg|Concept art for the CIA Brainboy. File:Black ops oldpromo.jpg|Early promotional image for the Black Ops. File:Black ops female.jpg|The female Black Ops assassin. File:Black ops female kick.jpg|The female Black Ops kicking. File:Black ops male3.jpg|The male Black Ops assassin from Opposing Force. File:Black ops male1.jpg|Another skin of the male assassin. File:Black ops male2.jpg|Yet another skin of the male assassin. List of appearances *''Half-Life'' *''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' *''Half-Life: Decay'' *''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' Notes and references See also *Combine Assassin Category: Factions Category:Enemies Category:Black Ops